Pergatory
by melinda08
Summary: Shane's personal hell on earth had ended, but in more than one way, it was just beginning.


Mara woke up, still quite hazy, but also with the strangest sense that she wasn't pregnant anymore. She looked around, and she appeared to be in a hospital room. In the bed next to her was her husband, Shane.

"Shane?" she started to panic. "The kids..Jackson...where is he? And my baby girl...our baby girl...what happened to her? Oh my god, the police, they took her from me, before I could even hold her. And Jackson...where are our little kids, Shane?"

Shane's head hurt something awful, but he looked around, and he also noticed the absence of their children. "Mara, it's all right. They can't...they can't just take our kids from us. They can't do that, we have rights..."

"The hell we do! We're both murderers, we're going to jail...but I don't understand. Where's Jackson? Why aren't I pregnant anymore?"

Now she was sobbing, and all Shane wanted was to be able to hold and console his wife. But to his dismay, his hand was cuffed down to his hospital bed, as was hers. "Mara...we have rights. We can get a lawyer...we can find out things..."

"I don't want a lawyer, Shane! I want my kids! Frances, it wasn't her time. Oh my god, did they...did they take her from me before her time because I was a horrible person...Oh my God, Shane, I can't take it!"

Shane, now with tears falling down his face, tried to reach for Mara, but she was just out of reach. "They can't...they can't do that. I don't know what's going on, but I'll find out...just give me a chance..."

"I've given you chance after chance, Shane! All that's done for me is to cost me my kids! Where are my babies?" she wailed, breaking Shane's heart all the more.

There was a figure, maybe a doctor, maybe a guard, off in the distance. His face was clouded, but surely, at least Shane thought so, he would have the answers. "Hey...hey you. I know you see us. Where are our kids?"

No answer, which only freaked Shane out more.

"I mean it man, where'd you take our kids? My wife, she's a good woman. She deserves to know where our kids are. Forget about me, think, of my wife, man, okay?" He plead with everything in him.

"Seems to me you know the answer to where your kids are, Shane," the mysterious voice called out.

Shane should have known the voice, but for some reason, it didn't register. "Who are you? What have you done with Jackson and Frances?"

The man said nothing.

Then it all started to come back to Shane. Mara. Jackson. The bed...oh, God, what had he done? This couldn't be happening.

"Please, man," Now Shane was sweating something awful, and Mara was crying, frightened. "Where are our kids? I swear, I didn't mean to do it. I had no other choice, you have to believe me. Please..."

The man said nothing. Finally he spoke up. "Seems to me you had a choice. There are always other choices, Shane."

"Who is this man?" Mara stared at her husband. "How does he know you? What is going on?"

"You have to tell her what you've done."

Shane tried to bury his head, but he couldn't, thanks to the cuffs. "I can't. She can't know what I've done...not this time..."

"Don't you want her to have the chance to say goodbye to her kids?"

Mara started to hyperventilate. "My kids...say goodbye? Shane, please, what is he talking about? Where are my kids?"

Shane couldn't even face her. "Mara...I did some things, some very bad things. I only wanted to protect you and our family..."

"Shane, what did you do?"

Shane looked at her, and for the first time she could see the blood all over his head.

"Oh, my God, Shane..what did you do to us?"

"I couldn't...I couldn't let you go to jail. I only wanted you to be with Jackson and Frances forever, don't you see? I loved you so much, I couldn't let us..."

Mara said nothing. Instead every single tear she'd held inside ever since she'd met Shane Vendrell came pouring out. "You did this...you took my kids from me."

"Mara, it ...I'm sorry, Mara. You have to believe me. I was only trying to protect you...Vic said, Vic said he'd tell our kids all about us...I couldn't let that happen..."

"So you killed me and our kids?" Mara yelled. "You...you asshole! You killed your best friend, Lem. Then you killed me and my kids...what kind of monster did I marry?"

Just then the hospital door opened.

No one said anything as they watched the person walking in. He wasn't alone.

Shane looked up. "Lem...Lem, is that you?"

The man nodded. "I just had to let you know...I don't hate you, Shane. You did what you had to do to protect our friendship, our family. I get it, man."

"So you're going to be watching the kids..." Shane asked.

Lem nodded. "Mara, would you like to see them one last...before I have to go?"

"I can't. I can't say goodbye to my babies. I just can't," she sobbed.

"Mara," Shane pleaded. "You have to do this. They need to remember you the way you are...a perfect and loving mother."

Mara wanted to say something, but at that moment, Lem gently placed Frances in her lap, and Jackson touched his mother's arm lovingly.

"I love you, my babies. You'll be safe now. You'll be with Uncle Lem. You promise me something, Jackson, can do you promise Mama something?"

He nodded.

"You look after your sister, she needs you more than ever. Okay. You're a good boy, don't ever forget that."

Lem gave the little family another minute, but soon he came to lift Frances and take Jackson by the hand.

Shane cried out one last time. "I'm sorry, man. I didn't know..I should have known. You were my brother, man. The best brother I could have ever had. I loved you. I just...you don't know how much I loved you."

Lem just nodded. "Take care of yourself, Shane."

With that, the new little family left the room. The man who'd been keeping watch over Mara and Shane stood up, and he undid the shackle that had kept Mara from leaving. Shane, for the first time, recognized the man as Gilroy.

"She's free? You mean she can go with the kids?" Shane asked hopefully.

"She's not going anywhere. But I am. Enjoy your eternity with your wife. Your wife whom you said you loved, but you killed. And what's worse, you killed her babies. Goodbye, Shane." Gilroy smirked.

And with that, Shane looked over and saw a look of fury in Mara's eyes that he'd never, ever seen before in anyone, and he knew that his own hell was just beginning.

The end


End file.
